2012 DANCING ACROSS CULTURES™ at the Opera House

After a year away, Presidio Dance Theatre's return to the San Francisco Opera House was a rousing success. With two FREE performances with seating nearly at-capacity, PDT dancers brought a morning of dazzlement and delight to just under 6,000 SFUSD public school children.

In the audience were, SFUSD Superintendent Carlos A. Garcia; San Francisco's Director of Cultural Affairs, Tom De Caigny; SF Ethnic Dance Festival Artistic Director, Carlos Carvajal; Tyra Fennell of the SF Arts Commission; Bay Kids Founding Director Dave Spencer; representatives of SF Opera and SF Symphony; and many other SF artists, members of San Francisco's art community and patrons of the arts.

PDT Artists did an outstanding job on the opera house stage and for 45-minutes held their audiences of thousands of children completely mesmerized. The "Cossack tricks" drew applause, the Eskimo best friends caused riotous laughter, and hushed "oohs" and "ahhs" could be heard throughout the theatre.

2012 DANCING ACROSS CULTURES™ at the Opera House was one of PDT's most successful renditions of this program to date.

Not only was the performance an impressive return to the Opera House, but additionally, Presidio Dance Theatre's Artistic Director Sherene Melania was recognized by the SFUSD and Board of Education for incredible hard work and achievements in the arts. 

"The SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT wishes to acknowledge Sherene Melania, Artistic Director of Presidio Dance Theatre and one of the creators of the award-winning DANCE OUT! Afterschool Outreach Program. She has achieved national recognition for her many years of outstanding work with uder-served students teaching cultural traditions and presenting transformative arts experiences for young audiences. Ms. Melania's artistic excellence, advocacy and dedication to providing accessibility to quality arts programming are very much appreciated throughout the SFUSD."